Monday, November 1, 2010

Daily Light - November 1, 2010

Daily Light from the Lighthouse

"I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever."

Ecclesiastes 3:14

"Nothing lasts forever." "All good things must come to an end." You have probably heard those quotes a few times in your life. They are usually said whenever a situation goes from good to bad. We teach our children that this kind of reality is just a fact of life. Humanly speaking we are correct. The happiness of a moment will not last forever. The feeling of euphoria that we have whenever something good happens eventually fades. Most of this world lives trying to get that type of feeling back over and over again.

As believers of Christ in a fallen world, we are subject to this type of disappointment in our flesh as well. Time moves quickly, and it seems that it takes every thing with it. My four beautiful children seem to grow exponentially each day. They were once tiny infants that you could hold in your hand, but now they are growing into young ladies and men. Susan and I often discuss missing the times when they were little. It seemed to move by so rapidly.

Solomon, the writer of Ecclesiastes, was expressing these same sentiments. It was all dawning on him that life was ebbing away, and he would one day be gone from this earth. It saddened him to think that all he had worked for and lived for would be placed into the hands of another. There was nothing that he had gained in this world that he could take with him. For a man that had every thing this was a bit unsettling. How humbling it must have been for a man who had lived his whole life in the palace as royalty to realize that the grave is no respecter of persons! Solomon had to stop and consider what really mattered.

This is what we must do. What do you have in your life that has eternal value? There are no things that you possess that matter in the eternal. It is only what you do with what God has given you and how you live according to your heart that matters. I am grateful to know that I have a relationship with Jesus Christ my Lord. He is my Savior, and there is nothing that can take that away. What Christ has done in my heart will last forever. I have been given a marriage by which I am to honor God. Susan and I prove a faithfulness and love for Christ by how we are faithful and loving to one another. I have been entrusted with children that need to be taught about life and about what happens at the end of life. I must teach them to know and live their lives for the sake of Christ, something far greater than this world can offer. There must be a conscious decision by each of us to live for the things that are eternal. What eternal value does the things that you are living for have?

About Me

I am a Christian saved by the grace of God. I am also privileged to be the pastor the Lighthouse Baptist Church in Brunswick, Georgia. I am married to the most beautiful lady in the world, Susan. She is the Godliest individual that I know and a true hero in the faith for me. She is without a doubt my best friend. We have four children: Julianna, Dianna, Michael, and Jordan. They are each special in their own way. We are a family that truly desires to please God. He has put a great burden in our heart for world-wide missions, and we are excited about the opportunities that God has afforded us to travel to different countries to be involved in the ministries there.